“Experiences of Vulnerable Populations During Disaster.”
Committee Chair DeFazio and Ranking Member Graves, Subcommittee Chair Titus and Ranking Member Katko, and members of the subcommittee, thank you for the opportunity to testify before you today on ways to ensure that our nation's disaster housing recovery and response efforts address the unique and often overlooked needs of low-income people, people of color, people with disabilities, people experiencing homelessness and other marginalized people.
NLIHC has worked on disaster housing recovery since Hurricane Katrina, and from this experience, we have come to a simple conclusion: America's disaster housing recovery system is fundamentally broken and in need of major repair and reform. It is a system that was designed for middle-class people and communities - a system that never contemplated, and so does not address, the unique needs of the lowest-income and most marginalized people. Because of this fundamental design flaw, these families are consistently left behind in recovery and rebuilding in disaster after disaster. The disaster recovery system not only ignores the needs of the lowest-income people, but it exacerbates many of the challenges they faced prior to the storm; disaster response and recovery often worsens the housing crisis, solidifies segregation, and deepens inequality.
When disasters strike, the lowest-income and most marginalized survivors are often hardest hit. They have the fewest resources and face the longest, steepest path to recovery. Despite the clear need, federal efforts frequently leave these survivors without the assistance needed to recover and leave their communities less resilient to future disasters. Without this critical assistance, many of the lowest-income and most marginalized survivors return to uninhabitable homes, sleep in cars or at shelters, double- or triple-up with other low-income families, or pay more than half of their limited incomes on rent, putting them at increased risk of displacement, eviction, and, in worst cases, homelessness.
The national coronavirus pandemic underscores the deep inequities embedded in our nation's disaster housing response and recovery system and the urgent need for reform. Black and Native people - who, even before the pandemic, faced higher rates of homelessness and housing instability due to decades of systemic racism in housing and other systems - are most at risk of severe illness and death due to the coronavirus, and Black and Latino people are disproportionately harmed by the resulting economic impacts. Now their homes - and with it their ability to keep themselves and their families safe - are at risk. Without significant and immediate federal action, there will be a wave of evictions and a spike in homelessness in the coming months and, once again, Black and brown people will be most harmed.
In my testimony today, I will discuss key barriers to an equitable and comprehensive disaster housing recovery and opportunities to reform our country's disaster framework. These barriers and opportunities are reflected in "Fixing America's Broken Disaster Housing Recovery System," a two-part report published by NLIHC and
These policy recommendations reflect nine core principles that should guide our country's disaster housing response and recovery:
1. Recovery must be centered on survivors with the greatest needs and ensure equity among survivors, especially for people of color, low-income people, people with disabilities, immigrants, LGBTQ people, and other marginalized people and communities;
2. Everyone should be fairly assisted to fully and promptly recover through transparent and accountable programs and strict compliance with civil rights laws, with survivors directing the way assistance is provided;
3. Securing help from government must be accessible, understandable, and timely;
4. Everyone in need should receive safe, accessible shelter and temporary housing where they can reconnect with family and community;
5. Displaced people should have access to all the resources they need for as long as they need to safely and quickly recover housing, personal property and transportation;
6. Renters and anyone experiencing homelessness before the disaster must quickly get quality, affordable, accessible rental property in safe, quality neighborhoods of their choice;
7. All homeowners should be able to quickly rebuild in safe, quality neighborhoods of their choice;
8. All neighborhoods should be free from environmental hazards, have equal quality and accessible public infrastructure, and be safe and resilient; and
9. Disaster rebuilding should result in local jobs and contracts for local businesses and workers.
These core principles and the following policy recommendations should serve as a guidepost for this committee and other federal policymakers as you work to reform our nation's disaster housing recovery framework.
Barriers to an Equitable Housing Recovery
After a disaster, displaced families must have a safe, accessible, and affordable place to live while they recover.
Despite the clear need,
Research from NLIHC demonstrates that disasters exacerbate the existing rental housing crisis for households with the lowest incomes. n2 After Hurricane Sandy, households already dealing with housing instability were further destabilized through displacement and increased rents. Two years after Sandy, few new affordable homes had been completed yet survivors were no longer eligible for federal rental assistance. n3
The impact of disasters on low-income people's housing needs is made worse by
After recent disasters,
Low-income families are often unable to access
Under
After Hurricane Harvey,
Due to the lack of housing assistance, one year after Hurricane Harvey nearly 20% of individuals experiencing homelessness in
During the current COVID-19 pandemic,
Before Public Assistance funding for these motels end,
FEMA Neglects the Needs of Marginalized Populations
People Experiencing Homelessness
People experiencing homelessness are often most at risk during a disaster and have the fewest resources to recover. People experiencing homelessness are unlikely to have the resources needed to adequately prepare for or evacuate prior to a disaster, and their unique needs are often overlooked by emergency managers when planning for disasters. During the recovery, homelessness resources are stretched thin to accommodate those households that became housing insecure as a result of the disaster and resources for pre-disaster homeless populations are deprioritized. Communities are often unable to return to the level of care provided to people experiencing homelessness before the disaster.
Despite the clear need, people experiencing homelessness are often excluded from or face additional barriers to
During the current COVID-19 pandemic, people experiencing homelessness are particularly at risk of severe illness and death from coronavirus, yet many of these individuals have been unable to access the assistance they need to self-isolate and self-quarantine.
Narrow eligibility criteria for
Seniors and People with Disabilities
People with disabilities also face barriers to assistance. They are two to four times more likely to die or sustain a critical injury during a disaster than people without disabilities. n20 Despite an increased risk of death and injury, many emergency plans do not address how local officials can reach those with disabilities during a disaster. People with disabilities are often diverted to "special needs" or "medical shelters," even if they do not require the level of care provided there. This practice fosters forced institutionalization and places people with disabilities at greater risk of injury or death.
During Hurricane Harvey, elderly residents in a
Immigrants
Individuals with limited English proficiency often face difficulty in accessing
Onerous Title Documentation Requirements
Eligible applicants often do not receive
After Hurricane Maria,
But
These same issues occurred in the continental
Disincentives to apply for assistance and high denial rates not only limit immediate assistance for low-income survivors, but these factors also distort the entire disaster recovery process because IA application data is used to make funding determinations throughout the federal disaster recovery process.
While
The
It is extremely difficult to access basic data about
Climate change means disasters are more destructive, more frequent, and impact a broader geographic scope, posing new challenges for
People who are homeless and contract coronavirus are twice as likely to be hospitalized, two to four times as likely to require critical care, and two to three times as likely to die than others in the general public. If unchecked, as many as 20,000 people who are homeless could require hospitalization and nearly 3,500 could die. n30 During COVID-19, congregate sheltering poses a severe risk to people experiencing homelessness and people with disabilities, who are more likely to have pre-existing medical conditions than the general public. The only way to reduce this risk is to move these individuals to safer non-congregate sheltering.
In
Housing and homeless shelter and service providers working directly with impacted populations often lack the critical information needed from
Moreover,
Equitable Solutions Centered on the Needs of Survivors
A reformed disaster housing recovery system that is centered on the needs of the lowest-income and most marginalized survivors and their communities must ensure opportunities for resident and public engagement, systemic transparency, full accountability and due process, robust equity and civil rights enforcement, fair mitigation practices, and a focus on increased local capacity and benefit. These priorities must be reflected in every stage of disaster recovery and response, from pre-disaster emergency planning through long-term recovery and post-recovery mitigation, to help address the systemic racism and classism that have resulted in our broken current disaster housing system.
Resident and Public Participation
A reformed disaster housing recovery and response framework must ensure robust, ongoing, and timely opportunities for public engagement through structured collaboration with stakeholders beginning with emergency planning and response and continuing through the closeout of recovery and mitigation programs. Residents must be empowered to make decisions for themselves and their communities, and their input must be given substantial weight.
Current disaster housing response and recovery efforts effectively limit opportunities for impacted residents to meaningfully engage and contribute to the rebuilding of their communities after a disaster. State officials are under enormous pressure to respond and rebuild as quickly as possible, often making any public input process rushed and ineffective. Engagement is often limited because residents are unaware of emergency response, rebuilding, and mitigation plans, whether because state officials fail to announce public meetings or because materials are provided only in English or in formats that are not accessible, including to people with disabilities. Moreover, plans often do not include essential information - including information about how funds will be spent and who will be eligible for which funds - that is needed for the public to engage effectively. Opportunities for engagement are limited, irregular, and occur too late in the process.
Systemic Transparency
Basic, essential information about federal disaster response and recovery efforts must be made publicly available in a timely manner. This transparency must be systemized, so that it is not provided on an ad hoc basis. Data transparency is critical to ensuring informed public policy decisions, allowing greater public participation in disaster recovery efforts, and helping public and private entities better recognize gaps in services and identify reforms needed for future disaster recovery efforts.
The current federal disaster response and recovery, however, suffers from a systemic lack of data transparency. After past disasters, this failure to provide basic transparency - ranging from damage assessments, determination of unmet needs, program design and implementation, grantee and subgrantee performance, and how federal dollars are spent - has hampered efforts to effectively target and distribute aid to those most in need.
Full Accountability and Due Process
Accountability and due process must be central in any reformed disaster housing recovery and response framework. Federal efforts must ensure that all eligible survivors receive the assistance needed to get back on their feet.
The daunting application process for disaster aid discourages survivors from applying for assistance. The application and appeals processes are confusing, time-consuming, and frustrating. As a result, low-income survivors - especially seniors, people with disabilities, and people with limited English proficiency, and other individuals - face high, unnecessary, and counterproductive barriers to receiving federal disaster housing recovery assistance and many forgo applying for assistance altogether. By not providing full accountability, transparency, and due process to applicants, the federal government has made it difficult - if not impossible - to determine who is eligible to receive assistance and why assistance was denied, leading to higher denial rates for low-income disaster survivors.
Robust Equity and Civil Rights Enforcement
Equity must be a central and explicit goal of federal disaster housing response and recovery efforts, and each stage of the response and recovery must be examined and reformed to ensure that federal, state, and local efforts actively dismantle systems of oppression. All emergency response, long-term recovery, and mitigation actions must be designed and pursued in a manner that addresses and prioritizes the needs of the lowest-income survivors, people of color, seniors, people with disabilities, immigrants, and other protected classes. All such actions must also be explicitly anti-racist: analyzed to determine if they exacerbate, leave in place, or ameliorate existing or historic patterns of segregation and discrimination in housing and infrastructure, and remedied accordingly.
Fair Mitigation Practices
All emergency response, long-term recovery, and mitigation efforts must be designed and pursued in a manner that provides survivors with the choice to relocate or rebuild their communities resiliently, minimizing displacement. As the climate changes, disasters will be both more frequent and more destructive. In response, local and state officials have begun to focus on mitigation and infrastructure improvement. Too often, such upgrades go to more affluent communities, while the needs of lower-income people and people of color are ignored. Moreover, federal, state, and local recovery efforts may actively contribute to displacement by failing to provide survivors with meaningful choices to rebuild resiliently, relocate, or improve infrastructure (such as storm drainage, floodplain management, and other common mitigation measures) in their disaster-affected communities. This effectively leaves low-income survivors at greater risk for future disasters than they were prior to the disaster.
Increased Local Capacity and Benefit
All emergency response, long-term recovery and mitigation efforts must maximize the engagement of local contractors and workers and build the capacity of local community-based organizations, putting as much federal resources as possible into the impacted economy and impacted survivors.
Local community-based organizations and networks are in the best position to engage with and have intimate awareness of the unique needs of the lowest-income survivors. These local organizations often do not receive the support needed to build capacity to scale up efforts quickly after a disaster. By relying on out-of-town contractors for everything from debris removal to repair of electrical grids, state and local governments miss an opportunity provide employment, job training, and contracting opportunities to low-income local workers and small- and minority-controlled businesses, who often are in severe need of work as a result of disasters' disruption to local business.
First Steps to Fix America's Broken Disaster Housing Recovery System
The "Fixing America's Broken Disaster Housing Recovery System" report provides specific policy recommendations to reimagine and redesign a new disaster housing recovery framework that is centered on the needs of the lowest-income and most marginalized survivors. This work will take many years. However, there are a number of actions
Permanently Authorize and Automatically Activate the
Enact the "Housing
The "Housing
Ensure Equity is an Explicit Policy Goal
Federal disaster housing response and recovery efforts must address and prioritize the needs of the lowest-income and most marginalized survivors, including people of color, people with disabilities, immigrants, and other protected classes. All actions must be explicitly anti-racist: analyzed to determine if they exacerbate, leave in place, or ameliorate existing or historic patterns of segregation and discrimination in housing and infrastructure and remedied accordingly.
Require Full Transparency
Data transparency allows policymakers and advocates to be informed about program results and make policy improvements and incorporate best practices into future activities. Issues of equity clearly exist in the disaster recovery process, and
Ensure Survivor-Centered Approaches to Assistance
Rather than creating and implementing numerous categories of ineligibility, disaster assistance programs should employ broad-based categories of eligibility, with the aim that every survivor receives the recovery assistance to which they are entitled. Through the use of damage assessments, geographic information, and other data, a reformed federal disaster housing recovery system can provide categorical eligibility to survivors in disaster-impacted areas. With a shift in emphasis to categorical eligibility, many of the convoluted rules and requirements employed by recovery assistance programs will no longer be necessary, allowing for an easier, quicker, and more flexible application process.
Address the Unique Needs of People Experiencing Homelessness
Meet the
In addition,
Conclusion
Our country must develop a new disaster housing recovery system that centers the housing needs of the lowest-income survivors, including people of color, people with disabilities, and others. In addition to addressing immediate housing needs caused by the pandemic,
Thank you again for the opportunity to testify today. I look forward to your questions.
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n3 Fair Share Housing
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n10 Martin, T. 2019. After a
n11 Skahill, P. 2018. Hurricane Maria Drives Up Connecticut's Homelessness Numbers. Retrieved from https://www.wnpr.org/post/hurricane-maria-drives-connecticuts-homelessness-numbers
n12
n13
n14 Vigh, E. 2019. Hurricane Harvey Caused Homelessness Lingers in
n15 Ward, A. 2018. Homeless after Harvey: For Some, the Historic Flooding in
n16 Kelley, E. 2020. Fort Lauderdale Ending Program to House Homeless in Hotels This Weekend. Retrieved from https://www.sun-sentinel.com/coronavirus/fl-ne-fort-lauderdale-evicts-homeless-20200717-h5vjhwlndnf6batks4rgegk3va-story.html
n17 Dearen, J., & Kennedy, K. 2017. Yellow Wristbands, Segregation for Florida Homeless in Irma. Retrieved from https://www.usnews.com/news/us/articles/2017-09-29/yellow-wristbands-segregation-for-florida-homeless-in-irma
n18 Ehrlich, A. 2019. After Wildfires, Homeless People Left Out of Federal Disaster Aid Programs,
n19 Karlis, N. 2020. How Bureaucracy Kept the
n20 Timmons, P. "Disaster Preparedness and Response: The Special Needs of Older Americans," Statement for the Record,
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n23 Mizner, S. 2020. COVID-19 Deaths in
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n25 Individual Assistance (IA) programs provide financial and program assistance directly to disaster survivors, as opposed to governments or eligible nonprofits. See: https://www.fema.gov/media-library-data/1565194429982-5674cd81399feaeb00cc72ab7fc4d84f/FACTSHEETIndividualAssistanceProgram.pdf
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n32 Karlis, N. 2020. How Bureaucracy Kept the
n33 H.R. 2914, "Housing
n34 Ehrlich, A. 2019. After Wildfires, Homeless People Left Out of Federal Disaster Aid Programs,
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